Rail filler



Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

ALBERT C. FISCHER,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAIL FILLER.

m Drawing. Application filed December With the growth of large citiesthe importance of providing expansion and con-' traction and sounddeadening of the rails of surface car lines is becoming more essential.It is necessary that the product formed as a filling means for the railsbe economical and at the same time have insulatingvalue as well asfunctioning as an expansion joint. My invention relates to an economicalproduct produced from ground corn cobs mixed with a binding material.Said binding material may be composed of bituminous material or abituminous material having in termingled therewith dividedfibrousmaterial for reinforcing the same. The bituminous material isprepared ina heated state in suitable mixing devices, known to the art,and adding thereto the ground corn cobsand finely divided reinforcingfibre, or the bituminous material may have incorporated therein finelydivided fibrous material reduced to a heated state and then having mixedtherein ground corn'cobs.

A suitable formula for said mixture would consist of thirty-five (35 percent ground corn cobs, fifty material and fifteen (15) per cent finelydivided fibrous material.

It may readily be understood that these proportions can be modified andthat the formula need not necessarily be committed to any particulartypeof fibrous material. The principal ingredient and filler. consistsof ground corn cobs and bituminous mate rial, the ground corn cobpreserving its in sulating value throughout the mixture, that (50) percent bituminous- .12, 1925. Serial No. 75,151.

, is to say the soft pithy corncob fibre materially aids the bituminousmaterial in deadening sound by insulating the rails from the hardroadbed, the other fibrous material .act-

ing to strengthen the composition. \Vhen moulded to form or pressed intoshape the filler is readily adapted to be inserted in the rail, where itacts as anexpansion joint and deadens the sound of the passing traffic.

The shape of this mixture depends upon the contour of the rail, but theform is that of the form of the contour of the rail on one side and astraight, vertical face on the opposite side.

This rail joint is provided in three to five foot lengths, andvariesfrom one to three inches in thickness.

My invention is not limited to the shape or dimension, but issutficiently broad to cover any form of material which ,may be used as asound insulator, and which can also be used as an expansion joint.

I claim:

1. A rail filler of the class described, comprising a preformedblock-like member comprising a homogeneous mixture of bituminousmaterial and ground corn cob.

3. A rail filler of the class described, comprising a preformedblock-like member comprising a homogeneous mixture of bituminousmaterial, ground corn cob and strengthening fibres. i

Signed at Chicago of l)ec., A. D. 1925.

, Illinois, this 10th day ALBERT C. FISCHER.

